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THE British and Danish governments have backed talks between
Afghanistan's Government and Taliban leaders under certain
conditions.

A British Foreign Office minister said Britain would support
talks between the Karzai Government and any Taliban leader who
renounced violence, and Danish Foreign Minister Per Stig Moeller
said he supported the idea of talks with the Taliban.

"A dialogue and reconciliation should be realised in conformity
with the Afghan constitution and the country's international
obligations," Mr Moeller was quoted as saying in Berlingske
Tidende newspaper.

However, he said Denmark  which has 700 troops serving in
the southern Afghan province of Helmand  "wouldn't accept
that there are talks with Taliban who support al-Qaeda".

The rights women have gained since the Taliban were driven from
power in 2001 should also not be negotiable, he said.

"We should civilise the Taliban so Afghanistan is not
'Talibanised' again, otherwise we'll have to leave the country," Mr
Moeller said.

Britain's new minister of state at the Foreign Office, Bill
Rammell, told the House of Commons that Britain would back any
Afghan efforts to "reach out to those within the Taliban who are
genuinely prepared to leave the path of violence".

His comments came after US Defence Secretary Robert Gates said
it was "defeatist" for Britain's senior commander in Afghanistan,
Brigadier Mark Carleton-Smith, to say that the war against the
Taliban could not be won.

In practice, however, observers believe there is no genuine rift
between Britain and America over strategy in Afghanistan. Both
countries accept that stubborn insurgencies cannot be defeated by
military means alone.

Privately, British officials say that any talks would be aimed
at splitting the Taliban between those willing to seek an
accommodation with President Hamid Karzai's Government and those
determined to continue an armed struggle.

The new head of US Central Command, General David Petraeus, will
have overall responsibility for Afghanistan and he will adopt the
same approach against the Taliban insurgency as he did in Iraq.

"What we have seen in Iraq applies in Afghanistan," Mr Gates
said. "Part of the solution is strengthening the Afghan security
forces. Part of the solution is reconciliation with people who are
willing to work with the Afghan Government."

Some elements of the Taliban are believed to have been in
contact with the Afghan Government. It has emerged that Taliban
figures along with officials loyal to Mr Karzai were at a dinner in
Saudi Arabia given by King Abdullah to mark the Muslim festival of
Eid al-Fitr.